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poprockgeek
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« on: September 03, 2014, 12:09:44 pm » |
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What are your thoughts on this story?
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"He is ever after only one thing: power. And also helmets with horns ... he's really into those." |
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Nyki2
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« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2014, 09:29:45 pm » |
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I hovered between three and four, but I went with three in the end. It was huge fun, but it left a lot vague. Are we supposed to believe that these totally stereotypical Merry Men were real mediaeval people? There were suggestions it was all being done by the ship or the robots, but there was no confirmation of whether that was true, and if so how it was done.
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DAK
TARDIS Traveller
Favourite Doctor: Eleven!
Favourite Companion: River!
Posts: 608
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« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2014, 04:16:38 am » |
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I gave it a "near perfect". I thought it was a great fun romp. I was thinking that Mark Gatiss had finally written an episode that didn't make me groan or cringe, and then they shot the golden arrow at the ship... Sigh. So close. If not for that, I would have given it a 5.
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ardalyon
Tin Dog
Favourite Doctor: Tom Baker
Favourite Companion: Peri
Posts: 155
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« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2014, 12:15:18 pm » |
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3 again from me.
Plusses? I agree that it was enormous fun. Kids would have loved it. Clara was too over the top in the first few minutes of the episode, but otherwise it was a very good episode for Clara. And the Bickering between Robin and The Doctor was very amusing.
Minusses (is that how you spell it?)? The "golden arrow" ending was just horrible. I wasn't keen on the gold dishes reflecting the laser beams either. Its weird how mirrors or other shiny objects sometimes reflect beams, and other times just melt. Marian seemed shoehorned none too subtly into the plot. And also, the final explanation was exactly the same as in Deep Breath! Another spaceship crashed on the way to the Promised Land and needing repairs. Maybe this will turn out to be a clever leitmotif, but right now it just seems like they've run out of ideas. Finally, Peter Capaldi's performance is very hit and miss for me. Very good in the aforementioned bickering scenes, while at others he seemed like a grumpy granddad trying very hard to get into the spirit of kiddies' games.
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Hyacathusarillistad
Tin Dog
Favourite Doctor: Third or Eleventh
Favourite Companion: Jo Grant or Amy Pond
Posts: 162
Extant Time Lord
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« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2014, 03:44:31 pm » |
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I thought it was pretty clear that there's SUPPOSED to be a connection to the repair droids from the SS Marie Antoinette. Artificial life forms are looking for a "promised land" with near-religious fervor, something AI's shouldn't really be concerned with. What does this mean for Gretchen Carlisle from Into the Dalek (who's presumably human), who was brought to "Heaven" despite not (so far as we know) actively looking for it?
Overall though, I'd give Robots of Sherwood a solid 3.5/5. I had some issues with the plot - particularly, as others have mentioned, the golden arrow bit - but I went into it knowing full well that I would. It's a Mark Gatiss episode, after all. The man is not the most consistent of Doctor Who writers by any means. Robots was worlds better than anything else he's written, for sure. One thing I'll give him though is that he's the first writer to make Clara feel like a PERSON for an entire episode, instead of just a plot device. I've wanted desperately to like her for so long now, but haven't really been able to until this season; this episode cinched it for me.
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